Q&A

After Laila's mix of awakenings and words of kindness Maria finally laughed and said, "Hey, who are you calling 'almost perfect'? Don't go throwing around insults because of one mistake. I am perfect and you know it." With a smile and in a softer voice she added, "Because no one less than perfect deserves to be your friend." Laila didn't say anything in return but simply smiled before she pulled Maria closer in their sideways hug.

After all those words were said and hearts were emptied, Maria and Laila went back into the living room where a confused Steve and Noah were waiting for them. When they walked into the room, neither of the men asked the questions that filled their thoughts. They held in their, 'What's wrong's and 'Why did you walk away's. Instead they acted like nothing had happened to not make either of them feel awkward, intending to leave the questions for later. Fortunately for their curious side, this 'later' came sooner than expected.

Although Laila had used her tiredness partly as an excuse to Leave Olivia's house, she genuinely was feeling tired after such a long and eventful day. Add to that the knowledge of having disturbed Steve and Maria's date, which was probably going well considering that they were still apparently in the middle of it, and it was no wonder that she wanted to retire to her bedroom. She had the sense that Maria might need Steve's comforting to rid herself of all the guilt she was feeling. So, the sooner she could leave the two of them alone again, the better.

After her talk with Maria and them returning to the living room, Laila returned to Noah's side and let him put his arms around her, while Maria took a seat next to Steve. Laila watched as she dropped herself on the couch and let out a deep sigh before glancing over at Steve's side profile. This was when Laila whispered some words to Noah and let him know of her plan. She let out a yawn or two, closed her eyes as she was leaning on Noah's body and he rocked her from side to side. This was when HE announced, "Why don't you and I head upstairs. We are done here for now and you seem really tired." They chose Noah as the messenger to make sure Maria wouldn't feel more guilty than she already was feeling. If she thought that they were leaving for bed to give her and Steve some time to give a happier ending to their date, she would feel like even worse of a friend. Neither of them wanted that.

Noah said his words loud enough for both Steve and Maria to hear and both of them immediately looked around with a look of surprise on their faces. "You are going to bed already? Aren't you going to tell us how things went? We are dying to find out?" But neither Laila nor Noah were willing to budge. They had made up their minds and would see things through. So, Noah said, "Well, I guess you are going to have to find a way to stay alive a little longer because Laila and I are going to bed." Laila nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm afraid I don't have enough energy left in me to do a Q&A. Tomorrow morning you will be the first to find out. But for now all I can think of is a nice blanket to cover me and a nice pillow to rest my head on."

Accepting no discussion on the matter, Noah and Laila said what they needed to say and proceeded to make their way to the stairs while Steve and Maria looked on with a look of disbelief. Once they were upstairs, Laila informed Noah of what she had talked about with Maria in the living room. But where Laila was still feeling bad for her, Noah appeared more unaffected. With a calm tone he said, "Well it wasn't exactly smart but all the blame certainly wasn't on her. Steve should have known better. Maria didn't have a task but he did. His first priority and main focus should have been that. It is fine for him to enjoy himself while he waits for the next thing to do but that doesn't mean he can just drop it all and make googly eyes at Maria. He was the one to drop the ball and he was the one to pick it back up. So, she shouldn't beat herself up too much and just learn from this for future situations."

Laila shook her head as she fluffed her pillows and said, "I can always leave it to you to analyse a situation and turn it into a teachable moment". She followed her words up with a chuckle and then said, "But poor Steve. If you didn't add that last sentence about him, I would feel really bad for him and having to deal with your stern judgement. I guess I should count myself lucky. It seems that the only person you are able to be lenient with and show forgiveness to without being given a reason, is me."

But Noah didn't mind her poking and teasing. He just responded with a chuckle of his own before he pulled her in his arms and said, "I guess you should". After that they got under the covers and pulled close to each other before they closed their eyes and went to sleep.